Memories of NoDa

An Artist Reflects on the Evolution of an Art District

by

Jerry Lee Kirk

~280 pages, $19.95(+ shipping)

Projected Release Date: October/November 2025

An Advance Sale Discount price of $12 (+ shipping) is available HERE prior to press time. This price is not available anywhere else or by check. The check price is $17/book (which includes shipping & sales tax) and should be sent to: Main Street Rag, 12180 Skyview Drive, Edinboro, PA 16412. 

PLEASE NOTE: Ordering in advance of the release date entitles the buyer to a discount. It does not mean the book will ship before the date posted above and the price only applies to copies ordered through the Main Street Rag Online Bookstore.

Jerry Lee Kirk is an award-winning author and visual artist. Having studied creative writing at Queen’s University in Charlotte, NC, his poetry and essays appear in various publications. In addition, Kirk has written and illustrated several children’s books, and in 2024, his poem, “Aspirations,” was featured in Charlotte’s “Of Earth and Sky” poetry project. A line from the poem was installed as an art piece near uptown as part of Charlotte’s International Art Festival. As an expressionist painter, Kirk’s work is included in many corporate and private collections. He works from his home studio in North Carolina, where he lives with his wife Lisa, a retired Air Force Colonel. Daughter Elysia is an actor and singer-songwriter pursuing her dreams in Brooklyn, New York.

I met Jerry Kirk many years ago. Exactly when and where is a bit fuzzy, but more than likely it was in a small gallery in the heart of what used to be a crumbling mill village that eventually became a vibrant hub of the arts in Charlotte, NC. In this memoir, Jerry tells a twofold story of his journey as an artist and that of a small neighborhood that few people knew about. This is a thoughtful and encouraging account of an artist finding his way. I read this in one sitting and loved it. ~Jonathan K. Rice

Reading Memories of NODA feels like catching up with an old friend. Through the remembrances of the author, Jerry Lee Kirk, the reader is able to identify with the desire for acceptance, the fear of rejection, and the satisfaction of seeing your art and labor appreciated by friends and strangers. The narration unravels chronologically with plenty of asides to present a fuller picture. If this was a Netflix series, I’d want to binge-watch it! ~Betsy Bilger, Owner of St. Ruby’s Java Joint

Memories of NoDa does an excellent job of charting the rise of a young artist trying to get a foothold in a new city along with the grassroots establishment of an arts district in the nearly deserted former mill district of a button-down banking town in the middle of the Bible Belt. Both stories are fascinating, as both experience setbacks as well as surprising opportunities. Kirk keeps his story concise and fun to read while providing plenty of facts and inspiration. ~Greg Russell, co-publisher of Tangents magazine, publisher of Inx comic book ’zine and freelance artist

PREFACE

What exactly is “NoDa,” the uninitiated might ask? The word itself is an acronym for “North Davidson Street Artists.” North Davidson is a street in Charlotte, North Carolina, connecting the city’s north side to uptown (or “downtown” for non-Charlotteans), roughly two miles away. Beginning in the early 1990s, that dilapidated, run-down, mostly abandoned area of Charlotte became home to many of the area’s artistic types seeking affordable studio and gallery spaces. That migration resulted in a genuine art scene, hence the acronym.

This book is a memoir that tells the story of my participation in the evolution of that arts district and how it played a crucial role in my development as an artist. It was a magical time and place and everything an emerging artist, or any artist, could hope to be part of. But first, let me be clear that this book is not meant to be a by-the-numbers history of NoDa. It tells the history of NoDa’s first decade to a certain extent, but it’s a history told from my perspective, and memory can be subjective. Others with the same or different experiences might view how things unfolded differently; collectively, none of these viewpoints would be wrong. Also, things happened in NoDa during its initial decade which I wasn’t a part of, so I have a limited take regarding those events. I do feel, however, that I was, along with many others, at the center of the fulcrum that created NoDa. When it comes to actual dates for when critical events happened or important places opened or closed, I’ve done my best to be accurate, utilizing my plethora of saved media from that era, as well as being able to pick the brains of good friends with whom I had the pleasure of sharing the adventure.

This memoir is also about my lifelong journey as an artist. NoDa is just a part of that journey, albeit a significant, influential, and memorable part. I have always created art in one form or another. Before I could speak, I sketched with crayons on paper and later drew caricatures of all my High School teachers. As I grew from boy to man, as friends have come and gone, my constant, most reliable companions have been pencil and brush. I can’t recall a time in my sixty-four years of life when I didn’t think of myself as an artist or people didn’t recognize me as one. My life as an artist has been an interesting, if often bizarre, adventure filled with moments of (in almost equal measure) joy, exasperation, and brutal heartache. This book chronicles a good portion of that adventure, even as it continues to this day, a true story about what it means to live as an artist and how being an artist has affected my life and those around me.

In my so-called career, I have worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, graphic designer, art director, fine artist, and gallery owner. Being a college dropout, I taught myself most of the skills necessary to attain those positions. I also taught myself to paint at the tender age of thirty and was so taken with the medium and what I perceived to be my great talent that I immediately set out to become the next Picasso. Along the way, I won some awards, gained minor celebrity (and some notoriety), helped to develop said art district, became a stay-at-home dad, and have yet to strike it rich. Lest I forget, I also did a four-year stint in the Air Force. And by sheer luck, I found true happiness with an exceptionally supportive wife and our wonderful daughter. If, in the end, all this artist’s life has left me with is the love of these beautiful ladies, I will die a contented man.

The story begins in 1991 after I was discharged from the Air Force and preparing to move with my young wife, Lisa, to Charlotte, North Carolina. Why did a 27-year-old artist enlist in the United States Air Force? Truthfully, I’d run out of options or felt like I had. After dropping out of college (Shepherd University in West VA, where I was studying Commercial Art) for various reasons and then spending a few wasted years bopping around the country, I landed in Richmond, Virginia. I refer to this period as my “Bohemian Years.” In Richmond, I tried to make a go of it as an illustrator, but jobs for that position were slim, so I did freelance work for local bands, underground newspapers, and such. I mainly designed flyers and advertisements and crudely assembled posters with the occasional commission for a portrait.

In truth, to pay the bills, I mainly worked in local restaurants as both a server and bartender while living in a cool part of the city called the “Fan District,” where the streets spread out from the centrally located Virginia Commonwealth University like a fan. There, I had neighbors and friends who were artists, musicians, and poets, all of whom greatly influenced my future art. There are certainly a lot of good stories within those years to be told elsewhere, but it all came crashing down when my live-in girlfriend left me, my freelance work dried up, and one of the restaurants I’d been working for was audited. The IRS determined that the other servers and I made more money than we’d declared and owed a lot of taxes. (I’m still unclear on how this came to be, but it did.) Also, I was still paying off a college loan with no degree to show for it. So, at a dead end, both emotionally and financially, I first ended up back home at my parent’s house in Falls Church, Virginia. Knowing it was not the place for me any longer and heeding the ill-conceived advice from a younger brother who’d served, I made the desperate choice to join the Air Force. At the very least, I hoped to see the world but spent my entire four years of service stationed at frigid Plattsburgh AFB in upstate New York, sixty or so miles from the Canadian border. My recruiter also told me that there were jobs available for graphic artists. Perfect! Unfortunately, all those positions were filled when I left basic training, and jobs were assigned, so I worked for the Supply Squadron, shelving boxes and keeping inventory. Thankfully, it all ended up for the best, as it was in Plattsburgh where I met the lovely Lisa, who, like me, was fresh out of basic training.

At almost a decade younger, Lisa had enlisted straight out of high school and wasn’t far from home, having grown up outside Buffalo. We two lost lonely souls, with more in common than anyone would think given our age difference, were drawn together almost immediately and married two years later on May 26, 1989. I can proudly proclaim that we remain happily married thirty-five years later and are the proud parents of a beautiful and talented twenty-two-year-old daughter, Elysia.

So, there you have a bit of the background that sets up the tale that unfolds in the following pages, for it is in Charlotte that my career as an artist really begins. Charlotte is where I will spend the next three decades plus, exhibiting my work, winning awards, gaining recognition, and being instrumental in developing the art district that would eventually come to be called NoDa.

Oh yeah…one more thing, as it’s a pet peeve; it’s pronounced “No-DUH,” not “No- DAA,” as I hear much too often.